40 Comments

Yes, but this is supposed to be lower end. It's still has all the whistles, so it's more like midrange? I sale prices to be lower, seeing as comparing at retail doesn't seem to have a big price difference. I welcome the practical wattage rain. The high end will probably go all platinum efficiency. Reply

The naming scheme is getting confusing, although I admit I haven't shopped for a PSU in a few years (not since I got the AX750)... First they had VX and HX, then they added AX as a premium line, when did TX happen? (or was that always in between VX & HX?) Now it's RM...Reply

I purchased a TX650 when the Nahalem (i7 920) came out, so it's been a while. They're due for a nice change, and modular? Sounds good to me. It looks like these are based off of the Seasonic G series, though (I'm not complaining).Reply

They figure if they confuse you enough, you'll either go with the cheapest one regardless or the highest end. Either way, they're going to profit because those are the places where they make the most margin since they cheap the cheap out of cheap PSU's on the low end.Reply

I'll let Anandtech know the second I find someone who can even consume all that power and needs a 500+W PSU. Completely ridiculous! Even a latest and greatest latest dual GPU gamer setup is totally on the safe side with a 450W PSU. On the contrary it's almost impossible to source decent 200W PSUs which should be perfectly okay for most systems on this planet.Reply

Actually, 450 watts is nowhere near enough for all but the most power efficient systems. Power supplies are most efficient at half loading, and you can nearly saturate a 450 watt supply with a single high end 7000 series card and mid-range everything else. So unless your dual GPUs are pitifully small, what you've said is a severe understatement. And as for 200 watts being enough for most people, most desktops consume 50-80~ watts idle, if not more. Put even a middling load on a basic system and you'll surpass 200 watts which would cause serious issues on the PSU.

But for the simple fact alone that PSUs are most efficient at 50% loading, should merit the wisest course of action to be buying a PSU with enough capacity to hit 50% load on it's most common loading that isn't irrelevantly small, like idle. That would put the ideal PSU for most systems somewhere in the 550-750 watt range. It also increases PSU lifespan not to be having it near 100% loading.Reply

No, that would not be okay for most dual-GPU setups. A high-end graphics card alone uses 200-250W, before overclocking. CPUs use between 84W for a stock i7-4770 to over 250W with an overclocked i7-3930K or FX-8350. Add in a couple hard drives, SSDs, optical drives, fans and the motherboard and you're easily looking at over 800W of power at load.Reply

I doubt you were really pushing even the CPU or GPU as far as possible. Remember, the amount of power these components use doesn't just depend on the proportion of time each core is doing something. It depends very much on the workload itself.

Sure, a 500 watt PSU will probably be enough most of the time, albeit sometimes running near 100% capacity (not a great idea, in general). However, what happens when you hit that random workload with just the right combination of instructions to push everything beyond you're measured 480 watts. Do you really thing it's worth occasionally driving your PSU beyond 100% capacity just to save a few dollars? Just get a PSU with a little headroom.Reply

What a ridiculous statement. There are plenty of people (myself included) who easily push 500W. Besides that, do you not understand the efficiency numbers? Buying a PSU with more overhead will allow you to actually use less electricity, which is important for many of us who leave our computers on 24/7.Reply

For any GPU compute on big GPUs, you're in for a shock. For my OC'ed beast (dual CPU + 4x7970) I hit 1550W easily. For my daily (3960X + two 7950s) I can hit 650W with the right workload, which means I use something near a thousand.

Buying power supplies is like buying a car and doing 70mph everywhere. If you buy the one that does 80mph, you'll be punishing the car driving near its top speed. Buy a car that does 150mph, and 70mph is a walk in the park.

I know what you mean though - I can run a 5970+5870 bitcoin miner on a 500W PSU without issue, and it'll work day in day out, and I get a warranty. Though as it's never going to see a workload spike, it's not an issue thereReply

Yep, you must be right. I guess there isn't a market for these PSUs and that's why the companies launch them - they want to squander their resources and have no clue of what the market wants or needs. I admit I'm not in the main stream, but there are people who would like to see even more powerful and efficient PSUs than these - those who run dual CPUs and multiple GPUs on the same motherboard. I'd like to find a fully modular, really quiet 1800W+ PSU that is 80 Plus Titanium so that I can add a fourth GPU for rendering. Reply

IIRC 20A circuits are required in the latest code for in the kitchen; although they're still uncommon outside of it. I think the bigger issue is that a 20A outlet/device requires a different plug than the standard 15A model. As a result to be in code an 1800W PSU in the us would need to come with a cable that couldn't be plugged into normal outlets. The returns from can't be bothered to read the box idiots from it would be prohibitively high.Reply

If you need more than 1500W now you'll need to go dual PSU. You can buy supplemental units that fit into a 5.25" bay; or use two standard PSUs with a control cable to have them both turn on at the same time (a 24pin pass through that connects the power on signals to the second PSU as well). The main caveat is that you'll need to either upgrade your breaker and wiring to support 20A+ or to plug the second PSU to a different circuit.

Nice, I'm glad to see some cheaper PSU's with such features. I'm very happy with my fully modular Seasonic XP660 plus. In hybrid mode it hasn't turned on the fan once for my moderately overclocked system. If these are similar at the prices stated, then they'll be great purchases. I'm particularly glad that they're offering the lower wattage models, however, at the same physical size and such a small difference in price, even those who only need 450w are probably better going for the 650w in the hope that the fan might remain off in hybrid mode.Reply

Wow, guess Seasonic finally has a competitor in the PSU space. I look forward the full review. Would love to see a dual/vs review including Seasonic's new "SS" series that replaces the "X" series of PSU's. These are the only 2 PSU's I know of with a "full silent" mode. But I'd be interested in a competitive comparison between every PSU that has this feature. Given the reasonable pricing I see no reason to ever buy a PSU that isn't fully silent ever again. THANK MOORE!Reply